suburban soccer mom minus the kids

new year new me

Since I started my blog in 2013 (dang) I’ve shared my goals for the New Year. Normally, this would’ve been done with a reflection of last years goals, but honestly, I haven’t looked at those goals and I’m not ready for a reflection. It also would’ve been posted on either 12/31 or 1/1, but again, I wasn’t ready for that. So here we are, writing this on 1/2 because better late than never!

Blog consistently and on a schedule. As you may know, I’m getting married this year. I’m also working a lot more and life is just a lot busier than it was in college. However, my blog is my passion, it’s one of the few things that I like to do so I want to devote time to it. I want to take time on Sunday afternoons to work on my blog. I’m really good at being lazy and my blog is the first to go when that’s what I want to do. I’m going to guarantee at least one post every Thursday.

Make my bed every day. A lot of my goals this year are going to do with tidiness. I’ve been driving myself crazy. Don’t @ me mom, I know you’ve been telling me that for years. But really I’d like to wake up in the morning and make my bed.

Tying into that, put my clothes away right after I wash them. Right now, they sit in my hamper, or on my chair until I either wear them or finally put them away. I’m lazy.

Budget and save more. Right now, if I want something I just buy it. That’s so temporary and I really want to think about what I’m buying this year. Like I said, I’m getting married, so I need to start thinking more long-term about everything I do. We want a house, so I need to be more responsible.

Prioritize my health. In 2018 I did the best with doing what I’m supposed to in terms of my health. I started going to doctor appointments regularly, stopped putting stuff off. There are a few more things I need to do (especially while I’m still on my parent’s insurance #honesty). Again, I need to start thinking long-term, I’ve been dealing with stomach issues for a long time, and still don’t know the cause. That kind of stuff, I’m taking care of this year.

Every year I review my goals. Normally, I do it twice and this year I didn’t want to do a mid-year review. Mostly because honestly, this is the first time I’ve looked at my goals since last January. L O L. 2017 has been a little rough- some really cool stuff happened and I might do a reflection piece all about that, but at the same time I’ve been creatively bogged down, exhausted, and often generally defeated. However, let’s dive into that as I reflect on my 2017 goals.

Blog at LEAST three times a week. This did not happen. Obviously. I’ve found extremely difficult to manage my work writing and then staying motivated enough to come home and write more often. I did, however, write far more than I did last year, finally broke 500 followers (thank you everyone) and was proud of every piece I published.

Go self-hosted, break out of .wordpress (eek!!) Done! I thought it would be scarier because that yearly $100 price tag seemed high, but I renewed it this month with no hesitation. I’m content with my domain name and look of my blog (generally).

Get my first real adult job doing something I love. I’m working in my field- which I love that I’m using my degree. There are parts of my job that I really do love, however, this isn’t my dream job and my boss reassures me that it’s a stepping stone to doing what I really want to do- freelancing.

Move out of my parent’s house. I did! I *officially* moved to Frederick where I had semi-permanently lived over the four years of college. Now, it’s my home.

Travel somewhere cool. I didn’t go anywhere super cool and exciting- at least to most people. However, for me, I had a lot of fun going to BloggyCon and spending time with people who love the same things as me. Mostly, having people understand me when I talked was really cool too. After I went there, I took the long way home and visited a friend who is in Kentucky (hi Kellianne) which was just super nice.

Grow in my relationships with God and Jesus. That’s a personal question goal that I don’t need to delve into on the internet :) One day there will be a whole post on my religious views.

Learn something new I learned to embroider and knit this year! I’m not advanced at either but I’d say I’m a novice in both.

Eat better– i.e. eventually no more dairy or soy, the crux of all of my stomach issues I did- it didn’t work.

Find a therapist wherever I end up post-graduation to continue positively growing with my mental health. I didn’t do this. It turned out I dreading going to therapy. I’m still on medication and one day I hope to find a therapist that I connect with better but overall I’m okay(ish) where I am now anxiety wise.

Be creative all the time, in thinking, in daily life, constantly expanding my mind in creativity. Obviously, from the first paragraph of this post- this was trying for me. I’ve had creativity-block like others have writer’s block. It has impacted nearly every aspect of my life and has been incredibly annoying. However, this is something to work on again for 2018.

How did you do on your 2017 goals? As you can guess, my 2018 goals are around the corner!